Joan of Arc’s Funeral

Maria+Giraco

Maria Giraco

For 17 years, 7th grade history teacher Mr. Grant has been hosting the Joan of Arc funeral for all of his students. He did this because the movie had a teenage girl as the main actor and he felt that his female students would be able to relate to it. Based on his personal favorite movie, students are required to write and present a speech regarding Joan’s death during her annual funeral ceremony. Not listening to 170 students say the same story every day. But, it’s worth it because all the students’ he taught previously would remember it. The most memorable experience is when a kid rode in on a cardboard horse and pretended he was a knight before the presentations.  Let’s see what the kids in his seventh period had to say about their experience. Daron Amirkhani said, “It was a little scary at first, but then when I did it, it was good because then my history grade went up.” also stating, “I took one of the flowers and gave it to a girl.” Logan Lee said, “It was hard pronouncing all those names because they were really long and there were a lot of them.” but also said he enjoyed, “Honoring Joan together as a class.” Alec Baboumian followed with, “It was awesome. It was probably the best movie we ever [watched]. I mean, it was nerve wracking going up in front of the whole class, but it was easy to do.” After hearing these participants’ reviews, we hope Mr. Grant will keep holding this event and make the future more enjoyable for students. 

Raelene Napasa